お手上げ

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Japanese

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Kanji in this term

Grade: 1
あ(げ)
Grade: 1

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Compound of (o, honorific prefix) +‎ (te, hand, hands) +‎ 上げ (age, raising, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, continuative or stem form) of verb 上げる ageru “to raise something”).[1][2]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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手上(てあ) (oteage

  1. throwing up one's hands: giving up, quitting
    こんなに(おそ)くてはもう()()だ。
    Konna ni osokute wa mō oteage da.
    Running this late, it's to the point where we're just giving up.

Usage notes

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This term is used as a noun in Japanese. Note that recombining the constituent parts of this phrase to produce the verb phrase 手を上げる (te o ageru) can produce a different meaning, depending on context: “to raise one's hand [against someone, as if to strike]”.

Synonyms

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References

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  1. ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN